Rules of Play

RULES OF PLAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Background...... 2 Advanced Rules...... 10 2. Components...... 2 11. Retreating from Battle...... 10 3. Sequence of Play...... 3 12. Fighters...... 10 4. The Impulse Display and Initiative...... 4 13. Missiles...... 11 5. Ships...... 4 14. Bases...... 12 6. Power...... 6 15. The Big Guns...... 12 7. Movement and Turning...... 7 16. Docking and Landing...... 13 8. Firing...... 8 17. Terrain...... 13 9. The Power Phase...... 9 18. Black Holes...... 15 10. Batteries and Afterburners...... 10 19. Worm Holes...... 15 Designer Notes...... 15

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC • P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308 • www.GMTGames.com © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 2 1. BACKGROUND 2. COMPONENTS Long hampered by cost and beset by international problems, real 2.1 Component List space exploration did not seem possible for humanity. Amazing A complete game of Talon includes the following: technological breakthroughs would change all of that in the year 2112. The invention of the Near Faster Than Light (NFTL) drive • 1 and a half mounted mapboards would make it possible for large ships to move easily in and out of • 3 sheets of ship and planet counters a planet’s gravity well, and to travel quickly within the confines of • 1 half-sheet of information markers a solar system. Ten years later, the perfecting of Faster Than Light • 1 Impulse/Round Display (FTL) drive would turn the galaxy into an open canvas. United by • 1 Empire War Map Display a common purpose, the newly formed Terran Confederation began • 2 identical Player Aid Cards to paint their picture. • 1 pad of Fleet Logsheets • 2 dry erase markers Expansion led to colonies, research stations, and even more techno- • This rule booklet logical discoveries, but it also led to the realization that they were • 1 Play Book not alone. Although no sentient alien species had been encountered, • Two 6-sided dice long range scanners had picked up the distinctive signatures of FTL drives. Sentient races must exist… and they must be space faring. 2.2 Board Terran expansion stopped. The game includes a single mounted board and a smaller extension board that is used to expand the board as necessary. Not knowing what to expect, a period of consolidation followed which emphasized defensive technologies and fleet building. First 2.3 Ship Counters contact was made by the people of Earth with this unknown race in 2227. Over time, they would eventually call these other-worlders The ships in the game are represented by large hexagonal counters. the Talon. It was a shortening of the alien sounds that made up their The ships with a blue background belong to the Terran Confedera- name but it was also oddly prophetic—the Talon Empire swooped tion; the ships with a red background belong to the Talon Empire. in very much like a raptor upon the fledgling Terran Confederation. 2.4 The Impulse Track Keep track of the current round and Impulse with the Impulse Track. This display is explained in full in section 4. Abbreviations and acronyms—The following abbreviations and acronyms are used in these rules: 2.5 The Empire War Map Display AP = Available Power Used in Empire War mode, see Play Book (section 15). FTL = Faster Than Light 2.6 The Player Aid Cards NFTL = Near Faster Than Light Two identical player aid cards are provided that contain important BB, CA, FTR, etc. = see Hull Designations (5.2) ship information and firing tables.

Forward Shields (5.3.2) Fire Arc of Weapons Group (5.3.1)

Ship Class (5.2) and Name Individual Weapons in a Group (2.10)

Charge Bar (4 yellow and 1 red, 8.1) Right-side Shields (5.3.2)

Write ship’s Power here (5.4.2) Write ship’s Turn Radius here (5.4.2)

Write ship’s Speed here (5.4.2) Afterburner (10.2)

Hull Box (8.4.1) Power Modifier (8.4.2)

Rear Shields Critical Hull Box (8.4.3)

The Talon BC has 3 Weapon Groups. It has a Missile weapon group Disruptor Weapon Group on the left has 1 Red box and 4 Yellow with 3 Missile launchers and 2 Red boxes in the charge bar, a single boxes in its Charge Bar. The Disruptor Weapon Group on the right Disruptor Weapon group that only has a forward firing arc, and a has 1 Red box and 2 Yellow boxes in its Charge Bar. This Talon double Disruptor Weapon Group that may fire forward, left or right, ship has 2 Afterburners and 2 Critical Hull Boxes. as indicated by the white arrows around the Weapon icons. The

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC 3 2.7 Fleet Log Sheets 3. SEQUENCE OF PLAY A pad of log sheets are included, however, these are not required to play the game. This game is best played writing information directly 3.1 Rounds, Impulses, and Turns on the ship counters. Talon is played in a series of Rounds. A Round is composed of six Impulses (A through F) plus the Power Phase. An Impulse is com- 2.8 Dry Erase posed of two Turns—the Initiative Player’s Turn and the Second A dry erase marker is included in the game box to mark things on the Player’s Turn. All this is tracked on the Impulse Display (4.0) with large, laminated ship counters. Do not use a non-dry erase marker the Initiative and Round markers (4.1). on the counters. For erasing use a cotton swab. 3.2 Sequence of Play Outline 2.9 Informational Markers Impulse A Initiative Player Turn 1 1 • Remove any of his Shield Reinforcement markers that expire this Impulse. • Use any/all AP for each of his ships that receive AP this Impulse, Turn Side Slip Shield Missile Damaged in any order. Radius (7.3.2) Reinf. (13.0) Missile • Move all of his ships that must move this Impulse, in any order. (7.2.2) (6.2) (13.6) • May fire any/all ships that have a fully charged Weapon Group. • May attempt to Repair any ships with Critical Damage (See Damage and Criticals). Second Player Turn Round Talon Terran Change Defend The Second Player Turn is identical to the Initiative Player Turn (3.1) Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative except replace the term Initiative Player with Second Player. (4.1) (4.1) (4.2) (4.2) At the end of each Impuse check to see if the Initiative has changed. Critical Damage markers: These occur in a Critical Hit (8.5). Impulse B-F Impulses B through F are conducted in the same manner as Impulse A except different ships may have AP or movement.

Shields Helm Power –1 Turn +1 Power Power Phase Down Down Loss Initiative Player’s Power Phase Scenario Markers: Used in special scenarios only: • Charge one Red Box per Weapon Group or Passively Charge Yellow Boxes (see Power Phase [6.0]) on all ships. • Every Ship’s Power Curve may be adjusted up or down by 1 step. 1 Second Player’s Power Phase Talon Terran Objective Jury Rig Jury Rig Identical to the Initiative Player’s Power Phase except now the Sec- Front Line Front Line Marker Up Down ond Player can charge boxes and adjust Power Curves on his ships.

2.10 Weapon Types Reinforcement Phase Some scenarios allow reinforcements to arrive in mid-battle. • Initiative Player—Deploy reinforcements as per scenario Fusion Cannon Wave Motion Gun description • Second Player—Deploy reinforcements as per scenario description Missiles Anti-Matter Torpedo Retreat Phase It may be necessary or wise to retreat ships during battle. Phaser Disruptor • Initiative Player—Eligible ships may jump to FTL • Second Player—Eligible ships may jump to FTL Start a new Round with Impulse A and advance the Round marker.

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC 4 4. THE IMPULSE DISPLAY Procedure: • Each ship that spends AP on the Initiative should be marked with AND INITIATIVE either a Change Initiative or Defend Initiative marker. 4.1 THE IMPULSE DISPLAY • At the end of an Impulse, if there are more Change Initiative The Impulse Display tracks the current Impulse and informs players markers on ships than Defend Initiative markers, the player who when AP is available or when ships must move. placed the Change Initiative markers may change the Initiative Player by flipping the Initiative marker. The new Initiative Player The Initiative marker is placed in the appro- will take his actions first in the upcoming Impulse and beyond, priate box for the current Impulse and Turn. until the Initiative changes again. Indicate which side has the Initiative with this • Players may force their opponent to have the Initiative. marker. When moving this marker from the • If the number of Defend Initiative markers on ships is greater than Initiative Player box to the Second Player box within an Impulse do or equal to the number of Change Initiative markers, the Initiative not flip the marker. The side with the Initiative stays face up until remains the same. Initiative is changed. • Remove all Change/Defend Initiative markers before beginning Nothing in the game happens simultaneously. During each Impulse, the next Impulse. the player with the Initiative takes his Turn first, followed by the DESIGN NOTE: The ships in this game are traveling at tremen- player without the Initiative. dous speeds and are actually very small compared to the distances Important! Each Impulse box on the chart may have one or more covered. Because of this, all of the ships on a side have interlinked numbers. When a number on the Impulse box matches the ship’s sensors, targeting computers, electronic counter measures, etc. Power (the first number in a ship’s Power Curve [5.4.1]), that ship Spending AP to change or defend the Initiative represents a side in- receives AP. When a number on the Impulse box matches the ship’s vesting ship resources into these systems to gain a tactical advantage. Speed (the second number in the Power Curve), that ship must move during that Impulse.

EXAMPLE: It is Impulse C and the Talon player has the Initiative. During his Impulse he had his BB spend 1 AP to Defend the Initiative. However, both the Terran BC and SC get AP in their Turn so they are both able to place Change Initiative markers on their ships. At the end of this Impulse, there are more Change Initiative markers EXAMPLE: The Patton has a Power Curve of 2-4-1. On Impulse than Defend Initiative markers so the Terran is allowed to select C and F a “2” appears, matching Patton’s Power value. On those the new Initiative Player. The Terran player chooses himself, flips Impulses the Patton receives AP. On Impulse A, C, D and F a “4” the Initiative marker over and will take his Turn first in Impulse D. appears, the “4” matches the Patton’s Speed value. On those Im- pulses the Patton must move. In most battles, there may be Impulses where the ships will have no 5. SHIPS AP available and will be unable to move. Ships may still fire, use Batteries or use Afterburners in those Impulses, but most of the 5.1 Ship Properties time they can be quickly skipped. Power Curve: Each ship has a Power Curve, listed on the Player Aid Card, which shows, in order, the Power, Speed, and the Turn Radius After Impulse F, the Power Phase occurs for the Initiative and then at all possible Speeds. As a ship increases Speed, the ship’s Turn the Second Player, after which the Round ends and the Round marker Radius will increase and the Power will decrease. This information is advanced to the next box. In some scenarios, events will occur is written in the white box and circle on the ship counter. on a specific Round. Power: This is the energy that a ship generates that is not being 4.2 Initiative Control used for movement, life support, shields, etc. This number is the amount of Available Power (AP) that may be spent by this ship in During an Impulse, a player may spend AP the course of a Round. Each ship may only spend, at most, one AP on Initiative Control in an attempt to either per Impulse. Since most ships will have less than 6 Power and there Change Initiative or Defend Initiative (keep are 6 Impulses in a Round, ships will not be able to spend an AP in it the same). Both the player with the Initia- every Impulse. All AP spending options are detailed in the Spending tive and the Second Player may attempt to Change it or Defend it. Available Power section.

Speed: The number of hexes that a ship can move in the course of a 5.3 Firing Arc and Shield Arc Round. Each ship may only move, at most, ONE hex per Impulse. (5.3.1) Firing Arcs: Weapons may only fire at targets within their Since ships, in general, have a Speed less than 6 and there are 6 Im- Firing Arc. There are four Firing Arcs in the game—forward, left, pulses in a Round, ships will not be able to move in every Impulse. right, and rear. These are indicated by the arrows next to the Weapon. Turn Radius: A measure of the maneuverability of the ship. This See the image below or the image on the Player Aid Card to deter- value dictates the number hexes a ship must move straight, after mine which hex around a ship is in which Firing Arc. turning, before it can turn again. EXAMPLE: If a Weapon has an arrow pointing to the left and an Power Phase: This is a special phase that occurs after Impulse F. arrow pointing to the front, it may fire at any targets within the left Weapons are charged during this time and each ship’s Power Curve and/or front Firing Arcs. may be adjusted. (5.3.2) Shield Arcs: Shield boxes absorb damage from fire within Weapon Group: All of a ship’s Weapons are combined into one to the Shield Arc. There are four Shield Arcs in the game—forward, three Weapon Groups. All of the Weapons in a Weapon Group share left, right, and rear. These are represented by the shields on the the same Charge Bar and Firing Arc(s). All Weapons in a group must ship counter. The Firing Arcs and Shield Arcs are the same. There be fired when that group fires. Individual Weapons within a Weapon is no need to draw lines of sight to determine which Shield Arc is Group may select different targets, as long as the targets are within hit while firing (8.0). that Group’s Firing Arc. Weapon: Within a Weapon Group, there are one or more icons which correspond to an individual Weapon. Firing Arc: Each Weapon Group has one or more arrows designating the direction(s) that Weapon Group may fire. Charge Bar: This is the bar made of red and yellow boxes next to a Weapon Group. Charged state is indicated by marking off boxes. Red boxes are charged during the Power Phase. Yellow boxes may be Actively Charged with AP (see Spending Available Power) or Passively Charged during the Power Phase (see Power Phase). Shield Arc: A groups of shields on a ship protecting it from damage in a particular direction. Each shield box represents 1 point of damage that Shield Arc can sustain. Damage to shields is indicated by marking off boxes.

Hull Box: Each box represents 1 point of damage a ship can sustain. EXAMPLE: If an enemy ship was in the Forward Arc of a Heavy A ship is destroyed when all Hull Boxes are marked off. Damage to Cruiser, only Weapons that could fire to the front would be able to hull is indicated by marking off boxes. target the enemy. Likewise, any fire from that enemy ship would be Critical Hull Box: Some Hull Boxes cause Critical Damage to a applied to the front shield of the Heavy Cruiser. ship when marked off. The Critical Damage Table determines the outcome. 5.4 Power Curve Battery/Afterburner: Many Terran ships have Batteries and many (5.4.1) Each ship has a Power Talon ships have Afterburners. Batteries are marked off when Curve, listed on the Player Aid charged; Afterburners are marked off when spent. See those sections Card, which shows the Power (1st of the rules for more details. number), Speed (2nd number), and the Turn Radius (3rd number) 5.2 Hull designations at all possible Speeds. The start- This game uses standard naval hull designations to identify a given ing Power Curve for each ship is highlighted on the Player Aid Card. ship class as listed below. EXAMPLE: The starting Power Curve for a Terran Heavy Cruiser Hull Abbreviation (CA) is 3-3-2. Scout ...... SC (5.4.2) Indicating the Power Destroyer . . . . . DD Curve: When the Speed for the ship Frigate ...... FF is chosen, the corresponding three numbers of the Power Curve are Light Cruiser . . . .CL written in the rectangular white box Heavy Cruiser . . . CA and circle on the front of the ship Battle Cruiser . . . .BC counter. Battleship . . . . . BB (5.4.3) Changing Speed: During the Power Phase, each ship’s Power Dreadnought . . . .DN Curve may be adjusted up or down. Normally, a ship can only change Fighter ...... FTR her Speed by one. Most Power Curves do not go below a Speed of 1 Carrier ...... CV because normal combat ships must always have a Speed of at least 1. Transport . . . . . Tran DESIGN NOTE: In general, as a ship increases Speed, the ship’s Turn Radius will increase and the Power will decrease. © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 6

EXAMPLE: A Terran CA with a • Power Through a Turn – Move the Turn Radius marker 1 hex Speed of 3 at the start of the Pow- closer. If the Turn Radius marker is only one hex away, it is er Phase may choose to Speed up removed and the ship can turn the next time it moves (see 7.0). to Speed 4 or slow down to Speed If you are placing Turn Radius markers directly on the turning 2 as shown by the numbers in the ship, flip or replace the marker to indicate how many more hexes white circle. If the Terran CA are left in the turn. Speeds up, her Power Curve becomes 2-4-2. Erase the previous • Charge a Yellow box on a Weapon Group Charge Bar – On one Power Curve, and write 2-4-2 in its place. The cruiser now moves of the Charge Bars on the ship, one yellow box may be marked at Speed 4 but she has less AP to spend. off. This is called Active Charging. A Yellow box may be charged even if there are un-charged Red boxes. (5.4.4) Effects of Hull Damage: When a ship has damage, the modifier in the Hull Boxes (8.4.2) may reduce the amount of Power. • Charge a Battery – If the ship has a battery (not all races have This is applied to the Power during the Power Phase. A ship cannot batteries), it may be marked off (10.1) if not charged. Batteries choose a Speed that would cause it to have negative Power. do not normally start the game charged. • Reinforce a Shield Arc – One Shield Reinforcement marker may (5.4.5) Power Less Than Zero: At the end of the Power Phase, if be placed on a specific Shield Arc of that ship (6.2). The letter on a ship has a modified Power less than 0 because of the Power mod- the Shield Reinforce marker should match the letter of the current ifiers caused by damage and critical effects, then the ship breaks Impulse. apart and explodes. • Change the Initiative – Place a Change Initiative marker on the ship (4.2). • Defend the Initiative – Place a Defend Initiative marker on the ship (4.2). • Transmit Power to Fighters – Carriers and Bases may transmit AP to friendly Fighter Squadrons (Advanced Rule 12.2.2). • Select New Missile Target – Ships with missile launchers may select new targets for friendly missiles with AP (Advanced Rule 1 5 3 13.7). 6.2 Reinforce a Shield Arc EXAMPLE: The Guderian is in trouble. She’s lost her front shields (6.2.1) Purpose: Each Shield Reinforce marker acts as one extra and she only has 1 more Hull Box remaining. Currently her Power shield box and absorbs one damage to that Shield Arc before being Curve reads “1-5-3” but, due to damage she just sustained, she removed. now has a -2 showing in the left-most Hull Box. This means she (6.2.2) Placement Restrictions: must slow down to Speed 4 during the Power Phase, giving her a Power Curve of 2-4-2. With the –2 modifier this becomes 0-4-2. If • Each Shield Arc can have, at most, one reinforcement. she were unable to slow down, she would have a negative number • Shield Arcs that are down, either because of Critical Damage or for Power. This would cause the FTL core to overheat and explode. because they have been completely destroyed (no boxes left in that Shield Arc), may not be reinforced. NFTL drives must be kept “hot”. The rest of a ship’s energy is generated by the power system produced by the drive. Attempts to • A Shield Reinforcement cannot be placed if the total number bring the ship to a standstill “stall” out the drive and deprive the of reinforcements currently on a ship is greater than or equal to ship of all power. half of the ship’s Power, rounded down to a minimum of 1 reinforcement. EXAMPLE: A Terran CA’s Power Curve is 3-3-2 (Power, the first 6. POWER number, is 3). If it already has one Shield Reinforcement, it cannot place another on the ship. If the ship had a Power Curve of 4-2-1 6.1 Spending Available Power (AP) instead (4 Power), it would be able to place a second Shield Re- One point of Power becomes available to a ship at various Impulses inforcement. If the ship, instead, had a Power Curve of 1-5-3 and throughout a Round based on its Power Curve and the Impulse chart. no active Shield Reinforcements, it would still be able to place one The Impulses in which a ship has AP may or may not be Impulses Shield Reinforcement. in which the ship moves. Remember that AP is spent before move- (6.2.3) Removal: ment. AP spent during the Impulse may impact movement in that Shield Reinforce markers expire one Round same Impulse. after they are placed. Remove the marker the next time the lettered Impulse that matches Shield Reinforcement marker occurs for the When a point of Power becomes available to a ship, it can be spent owning player. Shield Reinforcement markers already in play may on one of the following actions: be removed at will, before they expire, by the ship’s owner. This allows the ship to reinforce a different Shield Arc or reset a Shield • Enable a Side Slip – If this option is chosen a Side Slip marker is Reinforcement. placed on the ship. The next time the ship moves, it may choose to Side Slip (see Movement and Turning). The next time the ship moves (even if it is this same Impulse), remove the marker whether the ship Side Slipped or not.

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC 7 7. MOVEMENT AND TURNING subsequent move either: The invention of the Near Faster Than Light (NFTL) drive was the 1) place a Turn Radius marker a number of hexes away from the ship first revolution in space travel. Before that, mankind was dependent equal to her current Turn Radius. This counter indicates when the upon conventional rockets. The cost to get even one pound of weight ship can turn again. The Turn Radius markers are much smaller out of Earth’s atmosphere and into space was exorbitant. Travel than the hexes and it is helpful to place the counter along the hex between planets within Earth’s solar system was painfully slow. The side closest to the ship that it belongs to; OR NFTL drive changed all of that and effectively eliminated conven- 2) place the Turn Radius marker directly on the ship. In this case, tional rockets. The drive creates a pocket of subspace in front of a the number on the counter corresponds to the remaining hexes a ship which draws a ship forward. While a ship using an NFTL drive ship must move before it may turn again. The counter is flipped never leaves normal space, the change in subspace around (and or replaced with a smaller value Turn Radius marker as the ship especially in front of) a ship allows it to easily overcome gravity, moves through her turn. accelerate in space, and travel at Speeds much more quickly than DESIGNER NOTE: During large battles, it may be more convenient conventional rocketry would allow. It also does it at a fraction of the to place the counter directly on the ship performing the turn to cost and without the need for ridiculous amounts of fuel. All ships prevent board clutter. in this game are using NFTL drives when moving around the board. A ship with a Turn Radius of 0 would not need to use a Turn Radius The unique properties of NFTL drives have a number of interesting marker and could turn every time it moves. impacts in this game. First, the distortions and subspace pockets are such that it is difficult for ships with NFTL drives to be close to 7.3 Side Slip each other. Second, it is very dangerous for NFTL drives to change (7.3.1) Procedure: The ship shifts one space 60 degrees forward their output dramatically – whether in Speed or direction. The (left or right) without changing facing. This is independent of the parameters of the subspace field must be adjusted incrementally or Turn Radius and can be done even if the ship has a Turn Radius the ship will break apart. marker on the board. 7.1 Moving (7.3.2) Side Slip Markers: A Side Slip can only be done When a ship can move according the Impulse chart, it MUST move. if that ship previously spent AP to place a Side Slip If a player has multiple ships that can all move in the same Impulse, marker on the ship. Whether the player uses the sideslip he may move them in any order. A ship that can move can do one or not, the Side Slip counter is removed when the ship of the following: moves. When a ship performs a Side Slip, if the ship still has a Turn Radius marker on the board, the marker will need to be moved to • Go straight. Move the ship one hex forward, along her current be in the same hex row as the ship. When moved, it should be ad- facing. If a ship has a Turn Radius marker on the board, it is justed so that it is one hex closer to the ship, since the ship moved removed if the ship moves into the same hex as that counter. one hex forward. • Turn (7.2) • Side Slip (7.3) 7.2 Turning (7.2.1) Procedure: Turn the ship one hexside either left or right and move one space forward, in that order. (7.2.2) Turn Radius: A ship may only turn if it does not have a Turn Radius marker on the board. After completing the turn and

EXAMPLE: Here the Terran cruiser used AP to place a marker on the ship. During this cruiser’s next Move, she MAY chose to shift one hex to the side, keeping the same facing. Since the cruiser had a turn radius marker 2 hexes ahead of her, it also gets shifted in the same direction and it moves 1 hex closer. 7.4 Collisions Because of the instability of the subspace pockets caused by the NFTL drives, ships of the same race suffer damage if they occupy the same hex together (Exception: Fighters in the same squadron, Bases, and Missiles). Because each race’s NFTL drives are tuned slightly differently, this does not apply to ships of different races. Rule: If a ship moves into the same hex as another ship of its race EXAMPLE: A Terran CA with a Speed of 3 has a Turn Radius of both ships take 3 Damage on the shield facing the other ship. The 2. After the ship completes its turn, a turn radius marker is placed ship’s owner chooses which ship resolves damage first. Ships of 2 hexes away. © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 8 different races may pass through each other freely without damage. 8.2 Target Selection Ships of the same race may never begin the scenario stacked in the (8.2.1) In General: Any and all firing by one ship must be completed same hex. before another ship may fire. If more than one ship or Missile is in a PLAY NOTE: Since ships move one at a time, ships of the same hex, the firing player must choose the target he is firing at. Weapons race that start their move in the same hex and end their move in within a group may select different targets. the same hex will damage each other each Impulse they move. Be (8.2.2) Restrictions: careful managing large fleets. • Weapons may only fire at targets within their Firing Arc (5.3.1). 7.5 Floating Map • You may not intentionally fire on your own ships. • No fire may occur between ships or Missiles in the same hex. (7.5.1) The Map board is “floating”. If a ship is about to move off the map, all of the ships and planets can be shifted over the same (8.2.3) Blocking Fire: Planets may block fire (17.2.2). Ships do not amount and centered on the map so that there is room to move. If block fire in any way (Ships are actually quite small compared to there is not enough room to shift things over, the Extension map may the size of the hexes). be used to accommodate movement. Also, if both players agree, the map may be shifted at any time to better accommodate the ships. 8.3 Firing Procedure: Follow this procedure for each firing: 1. Select a fully Charged Weapon Group on the firing ship. 2. Confirm that an eligible target is in range of the Weapons in that Group. 3. Erase the Weapon Group Charge Bar. 4. Select a Weapon (one at a time) within the Weapon Group and the target. 5. Fire is resolved by rolling a die and consulting the appropriate weapon chart on the Player Aid Card. Whether a shot hits and how much damage is dealt depends upon the result at a given range. EXAMPLE: The Phaser deals a variable amount of damage based on the range and the number rolled. The Disruptor, on the other hand, always deals 2 damage if it hits. Here a Talon ship is approaching the left edge of the board and You may repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remaining Weapons in that wishes to turn to its left side. To accommodate the shift in battle, the Group, if able. map “floats”—every counter on the board is moved 3 hexes inward. 6. Determine which Shield Arc is hit—the Shield Arc hit is the target (7.5.2) Mandatory Retreat: If both maps are already in play and ship’s Firing Arc in which the firing ship resides. Note that Firing there is no room to shift things over, a ship that is 6 or more hexes Arcs and Shield Arcs are the same; there is no need to draw lines away from the nearest other ship is removed from play to accom- of sight to determine which Shield Arc is hit (Lines of sight are modate the shift. She is considered to have retreated. drawn only for blocking terrain like Planets).

(7.5.3) Terrain and the Floating Map: Terrain is likewise shifted when the map floats and if a Terrain counter is ever six hexes from another ship it is removed from play to accommodate the shift. Com- bat has drifted so far that the terrain element is no longer relevant.

8. FIRING 8.1 Charge Bar (8.1.1) Purpose: Each Weapon Group has a Charge Bar on the ship counter. Some Charge Bars are divided to fit the counter; this is treated as one Charge Bar (example: the Wave Motion Gun on the Terran BB). The Weapon Group may only be fired if the bar is EXAMPLE: The Patton is firing on Vision with her Forward Firing fully charged. Once the Weapon fires, the charge bar is completely Arc. Fire will affect Vision’s left Shield Arc since Patton is in Vision’s erased—even if only one Weapon in the Group fires. No Weapon in left Firing Arc (shaded hexes). the Weapon Group (even if it did not fire) may fire again until the Charge Bar is again fully charged. 8.4 Damage and Criticals (8.1.2) Recharging: Yellow boxes on a Charge Bar may be Actively (8.4.1) Damage: One point of Damage destroys one Shield or Hull Charged by spending AP or Passively Charged during the Power box. Damage is normally applied to the appropriate Shield facing Phase. Red boxes are only charged during the Power Phase. first. When all of the Shield boxes are destroyed on a given Shield Arc, that shield arc is considered “down” and additional damage (8.1.3) Ships normally begin a scenario with their Charge Bars (9.2) taken on that Arc is marked off on the Hull boxes. fully charged.

(8.4.2) Power Modifiers: If a modifier is present in the leftmost (8.6.5) Missiles and Explosions: Explosion damage is applied to Hull Box, then that modifier is applied to the Power during the ONLY ONE Missile per hex. Power Phase. Missiles, like Fighters, may use a shared NFTL bubble when trav- EXAMPLE: Terran CA Napoleon eling close together in space. As with Fighters above, the force of has 3 Hull Boxes destroyed so that the explosion is exerted on only one Missile. the leftmost box is a “–1”. During the Power Phase, the player 8.7 Repair of Critical Damage chooses a Speed of 3 giving it a Some Critical Damage can be repaired if the Critical Damage marker Power Curve of 3-3-2. Because of has the Repairable Damage icon = . Only Critical Damage the damage, the Terran player that has this icon is repairable. To attempt repair, roll a 6-sided die. actually writes 2-3-1 on his ship. If the result is a 6, the Critical Damage has been repaired and the counter is removed.

Repairs may be attempted at the end of every Turn (thus every Im- (8.4.3) Critical Hull Box: The moment a is marked off. The pulse) following the Impulse in which the ship took Critical Damage. ship’s owner must roll two 6-sided dice on the Critical Damage Table. Critical Damage may not be repaired during the Impulse in which 8.5 Critical Damage Table it is placed on the ship. The Critical Damage Table is located on the Player Aid card. Roll two dice and apply the result immediately. 9. THE POWER PHASE • Bases take no critical damage if Maneuvering Thruster Damage (6) or Helm Down (4) are rolled. 9.1 In General • It is possible that, because of other battle damage or the game The Power Phase occurs between Rounds—after Impulse F ends situation, a roll on the above table will actually have little or no but before the next Impulse A begins. The player with the Initiative impact. This represents non-critical damage and a re-roll should takes all of his Power Phase actions first. Remember to adjust the not be performed. Initiative before the Power Phase if the Change Initiative marker is in place from Impulse “F”. EXAMPLE: A ship rolled an 11 on the critical damage table and now has a Power Loss marker. The ship takes another critical 9.2 Charge Weapons damage and again rolls an 11. Since it still has the Power Loss marker, nothing happens. (9.2.1) Passively Charge Yellow Boxes: If no Red Box needs to be marked off on a particular Charge Bar, the player may instead 8.6 Ship Destruction mark off a number of Yellow Boxes on that Charge Bar equal to the (8.6.1) How: When the last Hull Box is destroyed, the ship is im- number of Weapons in that group. mediately destroyed. Remove the counter from play. EXAMPLE: A Talon BC has a Weapon Group of 2 Disruptors. The Charge Bar is 1 red and 4 Yellow Boxes. If the Red Box is already (8.6.2) Explosion Damage: marked off, he may instead mark off 2 Yellow Boxes on that bar • Each ship in the same hex with the destroyed ship takes damage since there are 2 Weapons in that Weapon Group. equal to the ship’s Explosion Rating plus one. The Explosion Rating of a ship can be found on the Player Aid Card. Roll one (9.2.2) Charge Red Boxes: Every ship may mark off one Red Box die for each Shield Arc. The highest result is the side that takes on every Charge Bar it has. This is the only time during the game damage. In the event of a tie, reroll among the tied Shield Arcs. that a Red Box may be marked off. • Each ship in all adjacent hexes takes damage on the facing Shield Arc equal to the destroyed ship’s Explosion Rating. 9.3 Adjust Power Curve Every ship may then have her Power Curve adjusted. Remember (8.6.3) Sequence of Explosions: If multiple ships are exploding at that most ships may only change their Speed by one. the same time (due to fire from a Weapon like the Fusion Cannon) the order in which the explosions are resolved is determined by the If a ship has a modifier in the left-most Hull Box, apply the modifier ships’ owner. If both sides of the battle have ships that are exploding, to the ship’s Power (see Power Curve). the current player resolves his ships first. If a Turn Radius marker is already on the board, it is not moved (8.6.4.) Fighters and Explosions: Fighters never cause explosion closer or farther away if the ship’s Turn Radius changes. damage. If Fighters are in the proximity of an explosion, the damage is only applied to one Fighter in the Squadron. The “Power Loss” Critical Damage does not modify your Power, however it does prevent adjusting your Power Curve and Charging The tuned nature of a Fighter Squadron’s NFTL drives means that a weapons. Fighter Squadron operates within a single subspace pocket. The net effect of this subspace field causes exterior explosions to be focused 9.4 End Turn Activities within the field toward the nearest NFTL generator. Like electricity After all ships have completed the Power Phase, it is usually a running along the quickest path to ground, explosions impact only good idea to quickly scan the ships and see what numbers appear one FTR in the squadron. This principle has been studied by multiple for movement and AP. empires for possible use in a defensive role, but none have yet been successful in implementing it on a capital ship. Advance the Round marker one space to the right. If it is Round 10, advance the back to 1. It is now Round 11. © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 10 10. BATTERIES AND AFTERBURNERS ADVANCED RULES 10.1 Batteries 11. RETREATING FROM BATTLE Some races, including the Terrans, have figured out a dynamic The Faster Than Light (FTL) drive was the second revolution in way to temporarily store massive amounts of energy. space travel. Using very similar principles to the NFTL, it allows (10.1.1) Purpose: A Battery lets a ship save AP for later use. A ships to move many times faster than the Speed of light. Instead of Battery gives a ship one AP in the Impulse it is used. A ship with a creating subspace field distortions and pockets around the ship (like Battery will have a battery icon on the counter. No ship has more the NFTL), a FTL drive actually moves the ship into subspace. NFTL than one battery. When used, erase the Battery. and FTL drives are so similar that they are essentially the same engine. A ship that wants to retreat from battle must stop using the (10.1.2) When: Batteries can only be used to provide an AP in an engine as a NFTL and use it as a FTL. When battle begins NFTL Impulse that the ship does not normally receive an AP per the Im- drives are engaged and cannot be switched to FTL mode until after pulse Chart. This means that a ship will never have more than one a “spooling up” period. Bigger ships take longer to spool their AP to spend in any Impulse. FTL drives. (10.1.3) Recharging a Battery: The same Battery can be charged (11.1.1) Purpose: Retreats can be used to deny your opponent a and used any number of times throughout the game. Batteries are Great or Devastating Victory if playing with the Campaign/Lifetime charged by spending an AP and marking off the battery icon. scoring rules or as required by a scenario. (10.1.4) At Start Status: Batteries do not usually start charged at (11.1.2) Procedure: Retreat is achieved when a ship is able to the beginning of a scenario. activate its FTL drive. To do that it must do all of the following: 10.2 Afterburners • spool up her FTL drive (11.1.3) • slow down to a Speed of 1 Afterburners represent the Talon’s ability to force their • “punch it” (jumping to FTL). This occurs after the Power Phase NFTL engines to operate at higher output than normal. of a given Round. Other ships or terrain in front of the retreating This causes them to burn out with extended use. ship do not matter, the ship leaves normal space. After a ship (10.2.1) Who: A ship equipped with an Afterburner will have one retreats, set it aside. or more Afterburner icons somewhere on the counter. (11.1.3) Spooled and Unspooled: At the start of a battle, each ship’s (10.2.2) Purpose: On any Impulse in which a ship is not scheduled FTL is considered to be “unspooled”. The FTL becomes spooled to move, Afterburners may be used to allow the ship to move one during the Power Phase of the Round number equal to that ship’s hex. Normal movement rules and Turn Radius restriction apply. total Hull Boxes. A ship may use an Afterburner to Side Slip, if previously marked EXAMPLE: A Terran CA is spooled up by the Power Phase of with a Side Slip counter. When used, mark off one Afterburner box. Round 6. Each Afterburner can only be used once in a scenario and cannot be recharged. (11.1.4) Restrictions on Retreats: • A ship cannot retreat while in a hex with terrain such as a Nebula (18.2.3) Restrictions: Each ship can only use one Afterburner in an or Asteroid. Impulse, so a ship may not move more than one hex per Impulse. • Bases cannot retreat as they don’t have FTL. • Fighters do not have FTL drives and must dock with Carriers (16.1). They then jump to FTL when the Carrier is eligible to jump. 12. FIGHTERS STOP 12.1 Fighters (12.1.1) In General: Fighter counters represent 3 fighters flying The above rules are all that are needed to play together in a squadron. FTRs may not be present at a battle unless the Tutorial and Scenario 1. a Carrier or friendly Base is present at the start of the battle. FTRs may continue in the battle after their Carrier or Base is destroyed. (12.1.2) Characteristics: Fighters have the following characteristics: • Because of their small size, FTRs have a minimum Speed of 5. Fighter NFTL engines must run “hot”. • FTRs do not have Shield Arcs. Damage is applied directly to the hull of one of the Fighters on the counter. • Fighters do not have a FTL drive to retreat from battle. • Collisions: Fighter Squadrons suffer and cause the same penalties for being in the same hex as other ships or other Fighter

squadrons of their race. Fighters in the same squadron (i.e., the 13.3 Target Tracking same counter) do not cause collision damage with each other. Missiles are “smart”, have unlimited fuel and will keep tracking • Talon Fusion Cannons: Due to their size and agility, they are toward their targets until they hit or are destroyed. Missiles track able to evade a Talon Fusion Cannon, taking no damage from it. independently of their firing ship and are not removed if the firing This makes Fighters ideal to assault larger Talon capital ships. ship is destroyed. • FTRs do not generate AP on their own. They rely on Carrier ships If the target ship leaves the battle or is destroyed, the Missile contin- and Bases to provide them with power (12.2). ues to move forward and cannot turn. The Missile cannot detonate • When FTRs are destroyed, ships in the same hex and adjacent until a new target is selected (13.7). hexes are not affected by explosion damage. (12.1.3) Targeting Fighters: When a FTR is targeted by a Weapon, 13.4 Missile Movement a specific FTR in the squadron must be targeted. • Missiles have a Speed of 6 (they move each Impulse). • Missiles have a Turn Radius of 0. They may turn one hex side 12.2 Powering Fighters each time they move. (12.2.1) In General: One Carrier or Base (14.0) can deploy a maxi- • Missiles may not Side Slip. mum of 4 FTR squadrons each. Terran CVs and Bases are equipped • The firing player may move a Missile as he sees fit as long as he with phased arrays that can transfer power to Fighters through the chooses a hex that is closer to the target (if possible). If two hexes vacuum of space. are equidistant to the target, the owner may choose which hex to If there are no friendly Carriers or Bases left in the battle, Fighter move it into. groups no longer receive AP. Their Charge Bar Yellow Boxes may • Missiles may not cause the map to “float” (see Floating Map) and still Passively Charge during the Power phase. are destroyed if they go flying aimlessly off the map. (12.2.2) Transmitting Power to FTRs: When a Carrier or friendly 13.5 Missile Detonation Base receives AP, it may spend it on any friendly fighter group When a Missile enters into the same hex as its target, it immediately instead of itself. The AP may be spent to: hits it and does 2 damage to the Shield Arc it passed through (or the • Actively Charge a Yellow Box on a FTR Weapon Group (one ship hull if the Shield Arc is down). This is resolved during Movement. on the counter may charge one Yellow Box). It happens immediately when either the ship or the Missile moves • Pull a FTR Squadron’s Turning Radius marker one hex closer into the other’s hex. Subsequent ship explosion damage should be (Powering through a turn [6.1]). resolved at this time. • Enable a side-slip for the FTR Squadron (6.1). If a Missile moves into the same hex as a non-targeted ship or a (12.2.3) Restrictions: friendly ship, nothing happens. • Only one AP may be spent on each Fighter squadron per Impulse. 13.6 Shooting Down Missiles: • The FTR squadron receiving AP must be within six hexes of the CV or Base and must not be in an Asteroid or Nebula. Planets, If a single source of damage ever deals 3 or more damage to a missile, Nebulae and Asteroids may block a Fighter from receiving AP it is destroyed. If a missile takes less than 3 points of damage flip just like they block or interfere with fire (17.2.2). the missile to the damaged side. If a missile is on the damaged side and takes any amount of damage, it is destroyed. • Missiles do not deal explosion damage when destroyed but may 13. MISSILES receive explosion damage. 13.1 Which Ships Have Missiles • If multiple Missiles in the same hex are receiving damage from Some Talon ships are equipped with Missile launchers. an explosion, damage is only applied to one Missile in the hex. These ships have an unlimited number of Missiles • Damaged missiles still deal 2 damage when they hit their target. available. • Destroyed missiles do not count towards degree of victory. 13.2 Launching Missiles Unlike other Weapons, when a Missile is fired, the effect is not immediately resolved. Instead, a Missile counter is placed in an adjacent hex within the firing arc of the firing ship. The Missile must face a hex side in the direction of the target ship. A Missile may only be fired when the target is in the Firing Arc of the Missile launcher and the target is within range of the firing ship. The target of each Missile should be announced (sensors can pick these things up) and the number of the Missile counter should be written on the target ship. The Missile may only ever hit that target and will pass through the hex of other units. If targeted against a Fighter squadron, the specific Fighter in the squadron is not chosen EXAMPLE: Defiant is being targeted by Missile # 4. Fortunately, until the Missile hits. Missiles may target ships or Fighters, but not she has a chance to shoot it down with her charged right Phaser other Missiles. group. Her first Phaser only rolls a 2, dealing two damage to the Missile. This is not enough to destroy a Missile as it needs to take 3 © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 12 or more damage from one source to be instantly destroyed. Instead, 15. THE BIG GUNS the Missile is flipped to its damaged side. If this Missile hit Defiant, the ship would still take two damage. However, Defiant still has one 15.1 Wave Motion Gun more Phaser left to fire in the right weapon group. This time she only rolls a 1, dealing 1 damage to the Missile. This destroys the Missile! If a damaged Missile takes any amount of damage it is destroyed. 13.7 Select New Missile Target Any ship with a Missile launcher may spend 1 AP to select a new target for any one Missile. The new target must be an enemy ship within the Firing Arc and range of the redirecting ship’s Missile launcher. The Missile receiving the new target need not be in the Firing Arc of the redirecting ship.

When this occurs, note the missile counter number, write it on the The Wave Motion Gun is the most powerful weapon ever developed new ship, and erase the number from the old ship. by the Terrans. Based on NFTL technology, the blast contains so Immediate Detonation: If the new missile target is already in the much energy that a subspace pocket forms behind the target, like a same hex as the missile, the missile immediately hits the new target shadow of the vessel’s mass. This pocket pulls the target ship towards during this part of the Impulse. Resolve the damage as above. The it, effectively knocking it back. Shield Arc hit is determined by rolling one die for each Shield Arc. (15.1.1) Procedure: The Wave Motion Gun has a range of 4 hexes. The highest result is the side that takes damage. In the event of a To determine if it hits the target, consult the Wave Motion Gun table tie, reroll among the tied Shield Arcs. and roll one die. A hit Displaces (15.1.2) the target ship and causes 10 damage points. 14. BASES (15.1.2) Displace Effect: On a hit, a straight edge is placed from the center of the firing hex through and beyond the center of the Characteristics: Bases are treated like ships in all respects except target hex. The target ship is displaced one hex away from the firing they cannot move. Their Power Curve does not include a Turn ship along the straight edge, without changing facing. If the straight Radius. edge is exactly along a hex-spine the firing ship may choose a hex Base Rotation and Speed: The Speed number in their Power Curve on either side of the hex spine. represents the Speed of their rotation. Rather than moving when their • If the target ship has a Turn Radius marker, it is shifted along with Speed number appears in the Impulse Chart, the Base must rotate the target ship such that it remains the same distance in front of 1 hex side clockwise, at that time. Like ships, the Speed for a Base the ship. may only be adjusted up or down by 1 during the Power Phase. A • If playing with Same Faction Combat and a Fighter is hit by this Base’s AP is not impacted by the Speed of a Base. weapon, the entire Fighter squadron is knocked back. EXAMPLE: A Base with a Speed of 1 will rotate clockwise only once (15.1.3) Damage from the Weapon is not resolved until after the per Round (on Impulse F). A Base with a Speed of 2 will rotate on shift. Any movement related effects are resolved first, such as taking Impulses C and F, etc. damage for entering a hex with another friendly ship or asteroid (see Collisions [7.4], Ship Destruction [8.6] and Terrain [17.0]). This No Collision Damage: If a Base and a friendly ship occupy the same may mean the target ship could enter a hex with a friendly ship, take hex no damage is dealt. Bases do not have FTL or NFTL drives so damage from the collision, damage the friendly ship, then blow up there is no possibility for interference. due to the Wave Motion Gun damage, further damaging the friendly Docking: Some ships may dock with Bases (16.1). ship. Any ships that exploded might also cause explosion damage to other ships. Chain reactions of explosions are possible. Setup: During setup, bases are deployed to the setup area before all other ships, as if they were terrain.

Terran Base Talon Base EXAMPLE: The BB Vanguard fires its Wave Motion Gun at the Talon CA Justice and scores a hit at range 2 on Justice’s rear Shield Arc

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC 13 but first the knock-back effect is applied. A straight edge placed from exploded, one of the two missiles would take 3 explosion damage. the center of the firing ship’s hex through the center of the target If the CA Guderian exploded, CA Justice would take 3 explosion ship’s hex aligns with the hex spine so the firing ship may choose to damage but only one of the 3 FTRs in Flying Tiger Squadron would shift Justice back to either hex. Justice had a Turn marker that was take Guderian’s explosion damage. 2 hexes away. It remains 2 hexes away after the shift. Once the shift is complete, the damage is resolved. 15.2 Fusion Cannon 16. DOCKING AND LANDING 16.1 Purpose Docking usually involves either CVs or Bases and is only allowed when required to fulfill a scenario objective or to allow Fighters to retreat from battle aboard CVs. Unless specified by a scenario rule, these units are removed from the battle and may not re-enter space. Planets may be landed on using these rules as well, but this is only permitted by scenario rule. 16.2 Docking/Landing Procedure To dock, the player declares during the movement phase that this The Fusion Cannon is composed of multiple, highly destructive ship will be docking. They then may move the ship into the same beams that scatter to damage many ships over a large area. hex as the Base or Planet and remove the ship from the game. (15.2.1) The Fusion Cannon fires in a cone, hitting all targets within • Docking never causes collision damage. its Firing Arc and range. The die is only rolled once and that number • A Transport may not dock with a Base or land on a planet unless is used for all firing as per the Player Aid Card. The damage dealt it is moving at Speed 1. depends on the range of the hex and number rolled. • FTRs may dock with a Carrier or Base while moving at any Speed. (15.2.2) Resolving Fusion Cannon Damage: They are skilled enough to land “hot”. • Damage is applied to all ships in each hex of the firing cone, • FTRs may not undock from a CV or Base except by scenario rule. including friendly ships. 16.3 Fighter Squadron Retreats • While the Fusion Cannon may, inadvertently, damage friendly ships, an enemy ship must be targeted in order to fire the weapon. • Fighter squadrons normally dock with friendly Carriers to retreat No weapon may intentionally fire on friendly ships. from battle (Transports may not, they are too large). • Which ships resolve their damage first is up to the ship owner. If • When a FTR docks, it is then set aside. If the CV is able to jump both sides have ships that are being hit by the Fusion Cannon the to FTL, that CV and any docked FTRs are considered to have firing player resolves his ships’ damage first. retreated. • Terran Fighter groups are too small and agile to be damaged by • If a CV containing docked FTRs is destroyed, all FTRs on board the Fusion Cannon and ignore all damage that would be caused are also considered to be destroyed. by it. 17. TERRAIN 17.1 Introduction • Terrain includes Planets, Asteroids and Nebulae. They are printed onto the backs of most ship counters. • If Terrain is being used, select the appropriate Asteroid or Nebula counter, checking to make sure that the ship on the reverse side is not being used in this scenario. • Terrain does not move during the course of a battle but, when the “floating” map needs to be shifted, Terrain counters are also shifted, just like ships. • See the Design Your Own Scenarios section (27.0) for how to select and place Terrain for custom games. • Ships destroyed by terrain count for the purpose of calculating EXAMPLE: The Talon BB Eviscerator fires the Fusion Cannon. It degree of victory. hits every ship within the shaded area which represents the Fusion Cannon’s Firing Arc and range of 3. If a 4 was rolled: the Terran CA 17.2 Planets would take 6 damage on her left Shield Arc, the Talon CA would take (17.2.1) Any Missile or Ship besides a land- 2 damage on her forward Shield Arc and the Terran FTR squadron ing Transport that moves into the same hex would take NO damage. Missiles 14 and 15 each take 2 damage as a planet is destroyed; any adjacent ships and would be flipped over to their damaged sides. Missiles 10 and take explosion damage as normal. Planets 11 are not caught in the Fusion Cannon’s fire, but if CA Justice have the following characteristics:

© 2015 GMT Games, LLC 14 • They are not harmed by explosion damage. 17.4 Nebula • They cannot be targeted unless specified by scenario rule. In reality, Nebulae are collections of count- • They may Block Fire (17.2.2) less stars, spanning multiple parsecs. How- • Missiles already fired may continue to track to a ship blocked by ever, as humanity explored space, they found a planet, but are still destroyed if they move into the planet’s hex. pockets of radioactive gas that interfered They will move into the planet’s hex if there is no other closer with Shields and weapon targeting systems. hex to the target. These early explorers called these clouds “Nebulae”, since it was a much more elegant name than “Gas (17.2.2) Blocking Fire and Power Transmission: To see if a planet Pocket,” the name stuck. is blocking fire, use a straight edge (use the side of the Player Aid Card) placing it from the center of the firing hex to the center of (17.4.1) Effects: Whenever a ship shares a hex with a Nebula the target hex. If the straight edge passes through the Planet hex, counter, all of its shields are considered to be down. Do not mark off fire is blocked. Fire is not blocked if it only goes along the Planet the shields on the ship counter. All Shield Reinforcement markers hex’s spine. are destroyed. Missiles may not be launched and Power may not be transmitted to • A ship’s shields come back online immediately upon exiting the FTRs (12.2.2) if the target ship is blocked by a planet. Nebula hex. • Any damage a ship suffers while in a Nebula is placed directly on the hull. • Nebulae have no effect on Missiles. • When a ship leaves a Nebula counter, its shields immediately come back on to whatever level is recorded on their counter. EXAMPLE: If a ship exits a Nebula hex and collides with a Missile, the damage could be placed on shields, if available. Note that damage from the Wave Motion Gun is not applied until after the displace effect is resolved. If a ship gets knocked into a Nebula by the Wave Motion Gun, its shields would be down due to the Nebula effect BEFORE the Wave Motion Gun damage is applied. PLAY NOTE: Fighters love to hide in nebulae since they have no EXAMPLE: The Talon BB and the Talon CA are in the Terran BB’s shields to lose. left and forward fire arcs, respectively. However, when a straight edge is placed from the center of the Terran ship to the center of the 17.5 Asteroids and Nebulae Affect Talon BB, the planet blocks the line of fire. The Talon CA, however, Weapon Targeting Systems can be targeted as the line of fire is traced along a hex spine. In • If a ship is firing in or through an Asteroid or Nebula subtract one this case the Talon CA would take damage on its rear Shield Arc. (–1) from the die roll for every Asteroid or Nebula counter the attack would pass through including any in the target ship’s hex 17.3 Asteroids and/or firing ship’s hex. If a die result becomes less than 1, the Asteroids represent clusters of large rocks shot misses. in space. Small vessels, like Fighters, do not have trouble navigating them, however, bigger ships do. They also affect weapon targeting systems. Effects: Whenever a ship moves into a hex with an Asteroid counter it will take 1 damage on that Shield Arc (if the appropriate Shield Arc is down, damage is placed on the hull). If a ship does not move during their Impulse and remains in an Asteroid hex NO damage is taken. EXCEPTION: Fighters and Missiles never take damage from Asteroids. Asteroid Speed: A term coined by early space explorers. Asteroid fields could be safely navigated by large ships so long as their Speed was equal to or less than their Power. In this way, they could EXAMPLE: The Terran BB and Talon CA (Justice) are in Asteroid constantly reinforce their forward shield when they moved through hexes. If the Terran BB fired on the Talon BB (Eviscerator), fire the Asteroid field and not take any permanent damage. would pass through two Asteroid hexes, including the hex of the firing ship. If the Terran BB fired Torpedoes and rolled a 3, it would be reduced to a roll of 1; a miss. If the Terran BB fired on the Talon CA, fire would be traced through 3 Asteroid hexes, including the hex of the target ship. A roll of 3 would be reduced down to 0 which automatically misses. © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 15 • The Fusion Cannon roll result may be modified differently for DESIGNER NOTES each ship it would hit. The idea for this game came about in 2006 when I was laid up sick • If there is difficulty determining how many Asteroids/Nebulae fire (really sick). I couldn’t really get out of bed and so, during my wak- passes through, place a straight edge from the center of the firing ing time, I spent it thinking about this game. It has changed dramat- hex to the center of the target hex. The terrain hexes the straight ically since then, but that sickness was actually a pretty good start. edge passes through affect fire. If passing along the hex spine of two hexes containing Asteroids or Nebulae, that only counts as My original goal was to develop a playable space combat game that passing through 1 hex. could easily handle fleets of 3-6 ships (or more) on a side. Individual • Asteroids and Nebulae block Power Transmission from a CV or ship actions are nice, but I wanted fleet combat. I also wanted fleet Base to FTR Squadrons the same way a Planet blocks fire. combat involving capital ships and not fighter craft. I wanted big, complicated ships, that had to maneuver and charge systems and not just do an Immelman. For me, it also has to be intuitive and easy to play—hopefully with lots of good decisions. As I say with most 18. BLACK HOLES of my games, I want my cake and I want to eat it too. I want all the While rarely encountered, black holes good stuff, but I want it simply. provide a substantial piloting challenge to most ships. Vector Movement? 18.1 Effects With a tactical space combat game, the first question that needs to be asked is how to handle movement. The vacuum of space means • Any ship that collides with a Black Hole is immediately destroyed. that objects will tend to stay at their same Speed even when thrust Explosion damage is still dealt to adjacent ships. The Black Hole is removed (using conventional means). I assume that this is what takes no damage. you mean when you say vector movement. Plus, with vacuum, • Black Holes block fire just like a Planet. there is no air to turn against. To go in the opposite direction, all of • When firing, if the target ship is closer to the black hole than the that thrust needs to be applied in the opposite direction in order to firing ship, subtract one (–1) from the die roll due to interference begin to move it the other way. You can’t just turn. You might begin from the Black Hole. to apply thrust to the side, but you retain all of your Speed in the • Ships may not deploy within 2 hexes of a Black Hole. original direction as well. Even games that go with vector movement usually get this wrong. 18.2 Gravity Pull For example, if you apply thrust for 5 turns in one direction, your Once per Round immediately after the Power Phase all ships (in- Speed will increase in that direction each one of those 5 turns. That cluding Bases!) must shift one hex closer to the Black Hole. Use a ship will then have to apply thrust in the opposite direction for 5 straight edge placed from the center of one hex to the center of the turns just to stop its movement in that direction (slowing each turn) Black Hole hex to determine where each ship will shift. If the straight to say nothing of any thrust applied to the side to change direction. edge is along a hex spine, the ship’s owner chooses the destination If you are in a plane going 500 mph you can turn that plane, keep hex. The Initiative Player shifts all of his ships first. most of your momentum, and go 500 mph in the other direction. • Any collision damage and resulting explosion damage is You can’t do that in a space ship because there are no aerodynamic/ immediately resolved. frictional forces at play—there is nothing to turn it against. • Ships do not change facing, all Turn Radius markers are shifted Space also means that a ship could easily change its facing. It might accordingly and they are not shifted closer to the turning ship due still be hurtling forward at the same Speed, but the ship can spin to the Gravity Pull. about on its axis and fire in any direction. No frictional or aerodynamic forces would interfere with it doing that (like it would with an atmospheric craft). Even game systems that model space flight at 19. WORM HOLES least somewhat accurately tend to ignore this very important point, Some scenarios call for Worm Holes which allow ships to instantly a point which I find pretty boring in a game. retreat from a battle, usually to fulfill a scenario objective. Retreat Of course we are dealing with science fiction here and not science. occurs immediately when the ship collides with the Worm Hole. For this game to take place we have to have Faster Than Light drives, These are represented by Black Hole counters with an objective so why not Near Faster Than Light drives? This allowed me to set marker placed on them. They do not act like Black Holes. They do up the premise for the science fiction universe as I desired. I find not cause ships to shift closer or subtract from firing rolls. this very realistic. First of all, the way I model movement is realistic to my premise. :-) Secondly, and more importantly, the game is realistic to the genre. The ships in this game move and turn as the capital ships do in the major science fiction franchises. When I play science fiction, that is what I am shooting for. Here is the irony—a space combat game that chooses vector movement in an effort to be realistic has chosen a scientific premise. Yet, if the game allows a ship to turn and keep its momentum or does not allow ships to spin on its axis at will, it is missing the two most important points of its scientific premise. In an effort to be realistic, it has made itself far more unrealistic than a game like Talon. At least Talon is accurate to its premise. © 2015 GMT Games, LLC 16

So, there was no way I was going to go with vector movement. The why miniature games are sometimes umpired. Just a little change in only reason I would have done it would have been realism, but if I facing or movement distance can have a big impact on the outcome made it truly realistic I would have made a boring game. Every ship of the game. I also didn’t want a traditional small counter, hex would always be able to turn the shield and weapon of its choice map game. This would require some sort of ship display for every against the enemy while the ships zipped around the board in mostly single ship on the board. That quickly becomes complicated, time straight lines firing as they passed each other. consuming and a bit of a brain burn when you increase the number of ships. Remember that I wanted the game to easily handle small Three Dimensional Movement? fleets, and the large, laminated counters became the perfect solution. The second thing that has to be addressed is three dimensional With everything on the counter, it is so easy. movement. Do I want to include this in the game? If you have read the rules, you know the answer is, no. My thought on it was that Development Phase it didn’t add really anything to the game. In atmospheric combat, Of any of the games that I have designed, this one experienced it is critical. Planes climb at a much different rate than they dive, the most change during its development, while it was on P500. As but in space the third dimension doesn’t impact the combat any I look back now, I can see that I had focused so much on making differently than the other two dimensions. It simply wasn’t worth a clean design, that I missed some opportunities. Fortunately, my the rule investment and complication for something that didn’t add development team kept bringing that up to me. :-) My emphasis anything to the game—except perhaps allowing me to brag about can be seen in the changes made. The system that I delivered to how the game had 3D space combat :-). the development team is essentially unchanged from the original (I tweaked the changing of initiative to make it simpler—that’s it). In Power System one sense it is gratifying to me how robust the system turned out The power system is something that I love. First, the power for the to be. However, the balance and the chrome is completely different basic systems is baked into the Power Curve. Second, the adjustment than what we started with. of the Power Curve is so easy that it makes playing with a fleet The team is responsible at least in part for afterburners, drastic so much easier. Lastly, it forces/allows you to spend power as it weapon changes, multiple excel spreadsheets used to calculate and becomes available. This is simulating a combat that is taking place balance point values in the game, the special effects of Fusion and fairly quickly and it breaks the suspension of disbelief for me if I Wave Motion Guns, black holes, nebulae, docking, simplified/easier have to sit down and plan out something in advance, whether it be retreat, drastic changes to CVs, docking, several scenarios, a lot of moves, or energy allocation, or whatever. I want as many decisions back story, and many other things. They were great to work with. as possible to be made on the fly, as befitting the subject matter. So, in another sense, I was surprised how much goodness I had left Those of you who are familiar with my game Band of Brothers will on the table going into development. notice that same similarity as that game also mimics something that is happening very quickly (WW2 squad combat). You only have a Conclusion few units to do something with so you just use them. Here you only have one power to spend (or one hex to move) so you just spend The rest of the game design was time consuming, but a lot of fun. it. Sometimes you want to spend it on several things, but you can With a normally complicated subject made playable, the sky was only choose one. the limit. The system is pretty modular and the differences in races are easy to design. There are so many variables in the game that are I suppose the most innovative part of the game is the large, laminated simply adjusted, it is easy to give the races a distinct personality counters. I didn’t want to do miniatures (either figurines or cards) and there are many more that I am already fiddling with. I hope you because of the inherent problems with movement. There are a lot of enjoy the game! extra rules needed for miniature movement (I mean without a hex grid) and it is very time consuming. Of course, there is also a reason

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